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I'm still amazed at how many cool conferences and festivals I hear about only a few days before they happen. But for those of you with the flexibility and time, this seems like a really cool happening.
She Shamans & Magic Mama's Conference
A Conference by and about Women Psychonauts
When: June 23-25, 2006
Where: Isis Oasis Retreat Center, Geyersville, CA.
All genders welcome.
SheShamans is a benifit for The Women's Entheogen Fund.
Thanks to Harlan, maker of 11:11 Diamond Portal (Burning Man 2004/05), for reminding me of the upcoming Bioneers Conference coming up next month (San Rafael, California, October 14th-16th, 2005). There will be nearly 100 speakers there. I can't think of a more important conference to attend.
Here is the schedule lineup:
FRIDAY PLENARIES
9:00am - 1:00pm
What Life Knows: New Ideas from Biology that Could Change the World
JANINE BENYUS
You Are Where You Eat: Growing Urban Food and Community
WIL BULLOCK
From Russia with Snow Leopards: The Future of Wilderness Protection
VYACHESLAV TRIGUBOVICH
Global Warming: A Climate of Fear and Opportunity
BILL MCKIBBEN
An UnReasonable Woman: UnReasonableness and Where It Gets You
DIANE WILSON
FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
2:45pm - 4:15pm
Nature's Recipe Book: Re-Imagining Industrial Chemistry (A1)
Food Security: A Blueprint for Sustainable Food Systems (A2)
Social Entrepreneurship: Making Dreams Come True (A3)
The Coming Plague: A Public Health Response to Infectious Disease (A4)
Beauty Made Me Do It: Art and Social Change (A5)
Connecting the Drops: Watershed Protection (A6)
Busted: Whistleblowers, Power and Democracy (A7)
Interactive!
Revolutionary Communication In Theory and Practice (A8)
New World Water Tour of ‘Toxic City’: Anti-Oppression Training & Alliance
Building (2 session workshop)
FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
4:30pm - 6:00pm
High Noon: Showdown over Global Warming (B1)
Eater Beware: Food Safety (B2)
Click Here: Movement Building on the Internet (B3)
Mission-Driven Companies: The Inside Story (B4)
First Peoples: Protecting and Restoring Indigenous Cultures (B5)
Restoring Balance: When Women Lead (B6)
Wild Heart: Wildlands and Wildlife Conservation (B7)
Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities (B8)
Interactive!
Herb Walk with 7Song (B9)
New World Water Tour of ‘Toxic City’: Anti-Oppression Training & Alliance
Building (2 session workshop)
FRIDAY EVENING
7:00 - 8:30pm
Young Bioneers Mixer
7:30 - 10:00pm
Bioneers Moving Image Festival
SATURDAY PLENARIES
9:00am - 1:00pm
Intelligence in Nature: A Predator's Inquiry
JEREMY NARBY
Bold Precaution: The Precautionary Principle Gains Traction
CAROLYN RAFFENSPERGER
Greening the Inner City: Jobs, Health, Justice and the Environment
OMAR FREILLA
Beyond Framing: How Deep Neuro-Linguistic Programming Communicates
THOM HARTMANN
Who's Got Next? Cultivating Feminine-Centered Leadership in a Hip-Hop Era
RHA GODDESS
SATURDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
2:45pm - 4:15pm
Diversity at the Table: Food Justice and Access (A9)
Blogs, Wikis and Indies: Citizen Media and the Fate of Democracy (A10)
Power Play: Innovative Anti-Corporate, Pro-Democracy Strategies (A11)
Campaigning Women: Building an Environmental Health Movement (A12)
Urban Dreams: Remaking Cities for Sustainability (A13)
Connecting the Dots: Defending Indigenous Lands and Cultures (A14)
Peace Technologies: The Art and Science of Compassion (A15)
Interactive!
Both/And: Cultivating a Common Home in the Scorched Earth of Politics (A16)
Educator's Forum: Educating Our Children For a Sustainable World
SATURDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
4:30pm - 6:00pm
The Eco-Agricultural-Industrial Park: The Intervale Project (B10)
Fast Food, Slow Food: From Addiction to Health (B11)
What's the Story? Reframing Progressive Media (B12)
Corporate Rights vs. Human Rights: New Directions in Challenging Corporate Power (B13)
Better Safe Than Bankrupt: Precaution Pays (B14)
Restoring Cultural Balance: Raising Women's Voices (B15)
Nature's Treasures: Preserving and Restoring Large Ecosystems (B16)
Interactive!
Pan-Global Indigenous Peace Technologies (B17)
Seeding the Present: Youth Taking Action
SATURDAY EVENING
6:30 - 8:00pm
Food and Farming Community Reception
7:30 - 10:00pm
Bioneers Moving Image Festival
8:00 - 9:30pm
Visionary Activism (C1)
8:00pm - midnight
Drumming and Dance Party
SUNDAY PLENARIES
9:00am - 1:00pm
Field of Plenty: A Farmer's Journey to the Frontiers of American Agriculture
MICHAEL ABLEMAN
Return of the Ancient Council Ways: Indigenous Survival in Chiapas
OHKI SIMINE FOREST
Restoring Los Angeles: Healing the Nature of Our Cities
ANDY LIPKIS
The Fifth Revolution: Teh Evolution of Ecological Design Intelligence
DAVID ORR
"And, there are those of us who straddle..."
BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON
SUNDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
2:45pm - 4:15pm
Ecological Design: Nature's Operating Instructions (A17)
Certified Orgasmic: Fertility from Soil to Markets (A18)
Larger Than Life: Food and Farming at the Movies (A19)
From Value to Values: Fair Trade and the Marketplace of Relationship (A20)
The Politics of Psychoactive Plants: Religious Freedom, Shamanism and Sacred Plants (A21)
Embracing the "Other": Cultural Diversity and Resilience (A22)
Money Talks: Transforming Attitudes Toward Money and Philanthropy (A23)
Interactive:
Transforming the Mainstream Media: Training and Practice (A24)
Interactive:
Herbal Street First Aid with 7Song (A25)
Art in Action: Igniting the Power of Community and the Spirit of Joy (2 session workshop)
SUNDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Mystery, Complexity and Ambiguity: Native Education for Sustainability (B18)
The Future of Green Building (B19)
Genetic Roulette: Tinkering with Creation (B20)
Cooperatives: The Economics of Mutual Aid (B21)
Young and Wired: Youth Media, New Voices (B22)
Reclaiming Faith: Spirituality, Religion and Keeping the Faith (B23)
Deep Water: Saving the Oceans (B24)
Art in Action: Igniting the Power of Community and the Spirit of Joy (2 session workshop)
VAYA CON GAIA - CLOSING CEREMONY
6:30PM
Hall and Exhibits close at 8:30pm
There are a several upcoming Entheogen Conferences. If you have an interest in the current state of psychedelic research I highly recommend you attend one of these.
Just read this over at Wired.
When it comes to the pursuit of happiness, everyone, it turns out, has an opinion.
Everyone, as it turns out, just happens to include architects, scientists, explorers, Buddhist monks, comedians, primate researchers, dietitians, deep-sea divers, illusionists and Internet billionaires.
And that was only a partial list of the lineup of speakers and participants at a free-wheeling technology and design conference in Monterey, California, that also attracted corporate executives and famed Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn.
The eclectic group gathered on California's Central Coast to ponder the pursuit of happiness and the shape of the future at the annual TED conference.
Chris Anderson, the curator of the conference, told Reuters the gathering provides a four-day immersion in ideas, invention and fun at a time when many of its high-powered participants are reevaluating life's big-picture questions.
"A lot of people who have been incredibly successful over the years have been compelled to write a different agenda because of a combination of economic issues and 9/11," he said.
In a presentation entitled "Humor, Joy and Surprise in Design," Al Seckel, a neuroscientist from the California Institute of Technology, described illusions as "expectations that have been violated in some unexpected, pleasing way."
On the whole, TED participants were wildly optimistic about the future, with predictions that scientists in the years just ahead would solve the problem of aging, understand the nature of gravity and find another planet like Earth.
"Florence in the 15th century could have become the greatest military power in Europe with all its wealth and genius, but instead it chose to invest it in beauty," Seligman said.
"This is your Florentine moment and it only comes once in a millennium," he added. "The question we all have to ask ourselves is how are we going to use technology, entertainment and design to increase the tonnage of human happiness on the planet."
It's refreshing to see this elite group of movers and shakers start talking like this again. So the real question is are we finally at an historical juncture where we can finally spread this happiness and prosperity to the rest of the world, rather than just the 1 or 2% richest on the planet?
As Ashanti, author of the Afircan Drumbeat Blog, says,
Different people are in different places. Many people in Africa (and elsewhere) are focused on basic survival needs, because these are unmet. (Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a reference point). Food, shelter, housing, health care. Thus, they would not be in a position to think about the future, since their sole focus is on where their next meal comes from, or the fact that they have no roof over their heads, no access to adequate health care and sanitation, and so on.
Those who do have those needs met, are in a position to think constructively of the future, are in a position to construct awesomely wonderful blogs like FutureHi. I think that is wonderful.
But for those who cannot focus on anything other than their basic physical survival needs, who are suffering because of hunger or ill-health - they would not be able to contribute to initiatives like this, until their basic survival issues are met, and they can get past that.
I keep thinking of Bucky Fuller that says we are suffering from a design science crisis. But even knowing about the conditions of the third world is no reason to not continue to actively create a positive vision of these emerging technologies. They are coming, and coming soon. What's lacking in my opinion is a positive vision that is absolutely necessary if we are to survive it, and not end up like Bill Joy who said, "The future doesn't need us". Right now especially, people need a future they can believe in again. That's hard even for most people in the first world who have already stabilized their lower needs. There is such an atmosphere of fear being perpetuated almost everywhere I see, and it is so unnecessary, but worse entirely counter-productive.
I think the more liquid our economies become, the more prosperity will reach more people. I think of the experiment that was done by the IMF when they gave every citizen of Cairo $50, rather than the government the same amount of money in one-lump sum. This initiative resulted in thousands of new businesses coming into existence that was not there before. The challenge then is getting the knowledge and capital to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
The other pressing need is an environmental sustainable infrastructure. The thought of the rising middle class of China all driving automobiles running on oil is not a good sign. The sooner cleaner sources of energy become cost competitive the better. Time is running out. And finally there is the growing problem of resource depletion - especially deforestation. I just read last week how all of Borneo forest will be gone within 3 years! This is a terrible thing, and I'm not sure how to stop it, unless the people cutting down the forests have an ALTERNATIVE means of prosperity. So the challenge is getting those alternative forms of capital to those countries as quickly as possible before the global ecology goes into a tailspin.